Chapter 22
Strasser was looking through the 'peek' hole of Hogan's cell, at the restless prisoner chained supine to the cot. He appeared to be asleep and was struggling against the restraints. After Hochstetter had nearly drowned him, the exhausted prisoner had been returned to his cell and given time to relive the horrendous experience. Hochstetter is a master when it comes to horror tactics. Strasser thought.
Hogan was deep into his nightmare. He was trying to swim but couldn't move his arms or legs. Sinking…need air…so cold…home…never see it again… He woke with a gasp and found himself shivering from the horror of the moment. He could not allow himself to give in to his fears. "No… I'm only cold." He whispered to himself.
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It had been three days since Kinch had radioed the Underground and told them of London's orders to stay on alert status, before London got in touch with them.
Lutz looked at Erika. "Are you up to it?"
"I can do it, Lutz. When do I start?" Erika asked.
"The instructions are that you should apply for the position now, so you can have a couple of days to get comfortable with the hospital routine. The actual specifics will be given to us later."
"Very good. I will go first thing in the morning. Does that mean they expect Colonel Hogan and Major Strasser to arrive at the hospital in a couple of days?" Erika questioned Lutz.
"That's what they said. Colonel Hogan has been held at Gestapo headquarters for three days now. The word is he will be there for five days total." Lutz watched Erika absorb the information.
Although she had never voiced it, he knew Erika was attracted to the American Colonel. He could see it in her eyes and hear it in her voice, whenever she caught word that he had pulled off some daring scheme. He knew she would give her all to this assignment, not only for the sake of the mission, but for the sake of the American Colonel.
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Kinch had just finished talking to the Underground, who informed him that they had been given an assignment; well that is, Erika had been given an assignment.
"At least now we know London hasn't forgotten about us," Louis said with relief.
"I was beginning to wonder, nobody had heard from them in three days," Newkirk complained.
"If the mission is still a go, then the Colonel must still be alive. I guess the Fuhrer didn't turn him over to the Gestapo for execution after all," Andrew said.
Kinch finished removing the headset and smiled. "So it would seem, Andrew. The Underground had more news for us. The small arms factory that was taken out a few days ago is being set up in the abandoned warehouse North of Hammelburg. They want to take it out while we are waiting for word from London."
"We can't do that. Our orders are to lay low until notified," LeBeau protested.
Carter and Newkirk adamantly agreed.
"Good, 'cause that's what I told them, too," Kinch announced.
"Do you think they'll listen? I mean what with the Colonel gone, will they listen to just us?" Carter asked.
"Well, they'd bloody well better. We don't want to take a chance of blowing this assignment with the Colonel and Strasser. We mess this one up and the Colonel could end up fighting for the wrong side!"
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On the evening of the third day, Major Strasser was asked to attend Colonel Hogan's session. Schaffer and Hochstetter were watching the Major, looking for any signs of sympathy, attempts to comfort, or secret communication with a fellow soldier.
Strasser had been following Colonel Hogan's "program" with interest, making his presence known to Hogan, but staying in the background. He occasionally praised Major Hochstetter on his techniques, attempting to appear that he regarded Hogan as no more than an object to be used. It kept Hochstetter and Schaffer off guard. These remarks generally bought him a look from the prisoner that warned of reprisals. This reaction from the prisoner pleased Strasser; it showed the man still had some fight left in him. Strasser was taking that into account while making his life and death decision. He continued to count….
--CRACK--
"…4"
"Ugh." Hogan had barely enough strength to groan. His agony was running in droplets of sweat down his face, as he laid his head against the pillar between strokes. His knees were buckling under the pain and he was trying to will them to stand strong. Come on stay on your feet… The voice calling out the numbers began to echo in his ears. …Don't pass out. Breathe.
--CRACK--
"…5"
"Ugh." Hogan pulled his head away from the pillar in awareness of the fire snapping on his back. That was five. That is all; he promised. He relaxed his fists in their shackles. A tear escaped from the corner of his right eye and ran down his cheek. He leaned his head down, to his upper right arm, to wipe it away. He wouldn't give the Gestapo Major the satisfaction of seeing that.
--CRACK--
"…6"
"Umph." He breathed in sharply. I should have known. A wave of nausea swept through him, followed by blackness trying to creep in around him. Hold on a little longer.
--CRACK--
"…7"
"Mmm…" Hogan lost his battle. His body drooped against the pillar and his arms, shackled to each side of the pillar, no longer strained to absorb the power being inflicted by the blood stained leather strap stinging his back.
"Enough, Major! The prisoner no longer feels your whip." Schaffer brought Hochstetter back to reality.
The Major was in the midst of recoiling for another blow. His cheeks were flushed with satisfaction, from the knowledge that he was fulfilling a promise he had made to the American Colonel. He brought his arm down to his side and flexed his hand around the black braided handle of the whip. Taking in a deep breath, he exhaled with a sigh. "Over all too soon. I hope it was all I promised, Colonel." He walked over to Hogan and tilted his head up, revealing a face moist with the sweat of pain. Hochstetter smiled, and while probing for the pulse in his prisoner's neck, he thought, I believe it was everything I said it would be, Colonel. I'll consider this promise fulfilled.
Hochstetter spun around and said, "Well gentlemen, this was a good ending to day three. This should weaken Hogan's resolve considerably. I guarantee he won't get any rest tonight."
Strasser had noted Hogan's determination to stay conscious. You couldn't outlast Hochstetter, Colonel Hogan. He would have continued until you dropped."
Schaffer had approached Hogan and was examining his back. "I agree, this should divert his attention and lessen his self control. Major, have your guards take him to his cell and secure him in a prone position. I will have to administer first aide. He can't be allowed to get an infection. Colonel Knefler was quite specific, that the prisoner must be able to answer questions, and a fever from infection would not be conducive to that end."
Strasser, who had been standing quietly, nodded his head, taking in the results of the lashing on the battered prisoner. "Well done, Major!"
"Danke, I have had a lot of practice," Hochstetter gloated.
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The doctors that Hogan had been spending time with were busy setting up for phase three.
"Well, Doctors, how are your preparations coming?" Knefler asked. The German Colonel had gone to the hospital at Hohemark to check that everything was proceeding as planned. He didn't want any mistakes in these preparations. Major Becker and Captain Dering had been going over procedures and double checking their calculations.
"Everything is in place, Herr Colonel," the Major assured.
"Good, suppose you tell me how this is going to flow. Will we be able to bring them in and test in the same day?" Knefler asked.
"We will take a couple of days to tranquilize them, run a few tests, and then begin. As I understand it, you want to try to get some answers from the American and Major Strasser. We will guide Major Strasser through that drug induced window of opportunity for answering questions, but move the prisoner into the deeper and more prolonged drug state for manipulation of his mind. Doctor Dering and I will monitor the alpha subject's physical state while the psychologist begins to work on his psyche. Simple." The Major smiled.
"I hope you're right, Doctor Becker. My career may depend on it." Underneath Colonel Knefler's calm confident exterior there was just the smallest trace of apprehension. It is what Knefler laughingly referred to as his "edge". It kept him from getting to comfortable and letting his guard down.
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Schaffer had washed off Hogan's back and was dabbing sulfa into the deeper lacerations, when the muscles in the Colonel's back rippled and a low moan announced his return to consciousness. Schaffer watched as Hogan's hands became animated, tensed and clutched at the wood of the bare cot he was secured to.
"…what… are you doing?" Hogan gasped.
"I'm applying sulfa to your back."
"Well, STOP," Hogan barked and gasped for air.
Smiling, Schaffer continued his administrations.
Hogan gritted his teeth and groaned again. "Okay… PLEASE stop," he panted.
"Robert, why don't you just tell us what we want to know, and you won't have to go through this?" Schaffer continued his administrations.
"I told you, I take…" the Colonel paused to bite his lip, in order to keep from crying out. "…full responsibility." His breathing had become fast and shallow in response to the throbbing pain in his back.
"That's very noble." Schaffer stood from the stool he had been sitting on and changed his tactics. He began hollering, "I don't believe you tricked the Major at all. I think you're covering for the Major, aren't you?" He bent down and repeated his question, hollering into Hogan's right ear as he lay confined prone on the cot. Hogan squeezed his eyes shut, wishing he could cover his ear to muffle the sound. The sudden change in the Corporal's demeanor was unsettling, which was exactly what Schaffer had hoped.
"No," Hogan choked out.
"YES, Robert! He is playing you for a sap. You're lying here in agony, half starved, while he is resting and gorging himself. Wake up!" The Major paced to the other side of the cell, turned and paced back to his prisoner. "I won't put up with being lied to." He yelled as he struck his prisoner on his back.
"Aahh!" Hogan involuntarily cried out.
Schaffer turned and faced the cell door. "Guard, I am ready to leave."
Thank-you, God Hogan thought.
The door opened and Corporal Schaffer stepped out of the cell and into the hallway. Major Hochstetter was coming toward him.
"I came to tell you the food is ready."
"Good!" He turned, to the guard, "Wait thirty minutes and then go in, get him up, help him get his shirt on, cuff his hands in front of him, and usher him down the hall to room two. Sit him in the chair in front of the food and tell him to eat. Is that clear?"
"Jawohl," the guard replied.
"You don't really think he'll feel like eating, do you, Corporal?" Hochstetter asked.
"Absolutely not. Did I say I was going to make it easy for him? To be hungry, yet too overwhelmed by pain to eat is an agony in itself. It's not just his body we have to wear down. It is his mind too!"
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Strasser was looking out his window when he heard a knock on the door.
"Come in."
"Good evening, Herr Strasser, I've come to bring you some towels." It was one of the domestics hired to fulfill housekeeping duties in the visitor wing.
"Danke," he distractedly answered.
"There's a fine moon out tonight."
Strasser's ears perked, as he recognized the code. "Ja, a winter moon is always the brightest," he replied.
"Especially on a cold night," the man finished.
"It's about time," Strasser angrily retorted.
"You haven't exactly been easy to reach. I'm Kyle." The man offered his hand.
Strasser shook it and asked, "How do we proceed?"
"That depends on what you have decided to do about the American Colonel."
Strasser turned quickly and paced back to the window, rubbing his face. He looked out on Hammelburg for a moment and then quickly looked back at Kyle. "It's easier to snuff out a life and say it is for the good of a nation, if you don't get to know him or how hard he is fighting to live. Although, I haven't been able to talk to this man, I have observed him. He has a spark that won't burn out but I don't know if it is enough to carry him through."
"You are running out of time, Herr Strasser, and so are we." Kyle opened up one of the towels he had in his hand and revealed two syringes. "This syringe contains morphine. If you decide to proceed with the mission, this will give the American some relief and perhaps allow him to get some rest and regain a little strength." Kyle pointed at the second syringe. "This one will end it quickly and painlessly for the American, it will just look like he succumbed as a result of the Gestapo beatings. It will also end our chances of getting our hands on the Nazi research into mind control. It is your decision, Herr Strasser. We will watch to see if the American walks out or is carried out. If you decide to continue with your mission, you will be contacted once you get to the hospital with the rest of the plan. It is safer for everybody if you don't have too much information right now." Kyle walked to the door and opened it, resuming his role.
"The Bath is at the end of the hall, Herr Strasser, good evening."
"Danke, and good evening to you." Strasser looked down at the two syringes and wrapped his fist around them. There's no room for error. This decision will be final, once made there will be no turning back.
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